“Yeah. Black Demons rented out a hotel. One of those big rooms.”
He meant a banquet hall, but I wasn’t about to correct him.
“Why not here?”
He chewed the hairs on his bottom lip and the coarse sound made my stomach turn over. “This is a big show. For all the regulars and VIPs. You don’t need to know any more than that. That man’s gonna be there. His name is Clifford Rutledge. He’s a professor at UT. You’re gonna dance for him in the private booth.”
“Oh okay,” I sort of drug out the word because Occum looked real desperate. “Just dance for him? Get him to sign off?”
“Of course. Do what comes natural.”
What comes natural? Dancing came natural, nothing else. But I could get a man to agree to things. I could do it without crossing my own lines. I needed to get that stage.
“Okay,” I said.
His chin dropped to his chest and he glared up at me without lifting it. At that angle and the dim lighting, he looked like a demon straight from hell. “Good,” he rumbled. “I don’t need to remind you of life outside this MC. Nobody having your back. No money. Wraiths breaking down your door and your daddy’s other leg. You don’t want to fuck this up, Short Fuse. Not if you want your own stage. Haven’t I taken care of you?”
I nodded as best I could under his grasp.
“I put my neck on the line for you. Razor and the Iron Wraiths own this town but I’ve kept you safe from them.”
I swallowed.
“You know Razor came sniffing ‘round for you again. Asking for his cut. I kept him away but it cost me.”
“When?” I asked.
I hadn’t seen Razor. I had hoped I was close to paying off my debt to Razor. It weighed me down like a lead blanket, day and night, for eight years now.
“Don’t worry about it.” He waved off my question. “Here’re the facts you need to worry about. Your daddy’s a drunk. Your momma left. Dropped you without a thought. The Black Demons saved you. We protected you, and continue to do so, from those scum in the Iron Wraiths. We want you safe. Not like the family that supposedly shares your blood. We took you in and protected you when nobody else cared.”
He was right. Alone I was dead; with the boys I was at least protected.
I took too long to answer so he kept talking.
“You’re my main girl. I’m going to keep you safe and take care of you. I’m going to give you the VIP stage so you can dance for top dollar. You need to do your fair share too. We all do.”
I blinked up at him. “Really? You promise the VIP stage?”
“Of course. You’re the first girl I thought of for it.”
I didn’t want to seduce this stranger, but maybe I could find another way. Maybe I could talk to him. I didn’t have a choice. Not really.
“Okay,” my voice was weak as I said it. “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s my girl. Now head on home. Rest and clean up. You got a big task ahead of you.”
I swallowed down what felt like my lunch trying to make a reappearance. I could do what Occum asked of me. I didn’t have to sleep with that professor guy. I could find another way. I’d gotten plenty of men to do my bidding without sleeping with them. This was some nerd who’d probably never been laid. How hard could it be?
Chapter 4
Clifford
“It’s just this idealistic vision of America, where everybody has the ability to ‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps’ and be a success. I mean, come on, that’s not feasible for every person. It all depends on a combination of ethnicity, socio-economic background, gender, attractiveness, et cetera. From the moment you’re born labels are applied to you.”
My best friend, Jack, and I talked as we walked from the bus stop. Or rather, I talked and Jack nodded occasionally. It was the start of October and the air had just begun to bite. I had the collar up on my coat and Jack had his hands tucked deep into his pockets as we hustled toward our destination.
“If I could just show each person on a funding panel their own inherent biases, I know that I could prove my point and get what I need to finish my research.”
